novelraw Chapter 715 - 714 - Ground Rules
Chapter 715 - 714 - Ground Rules
Lind watched the orphans eat happily after their first day of lessons as he returned Teela to them. She went in and he noticed Ruby and a few others flock to her with worry on their faces. She smiled and patted their heads.
Clearly, she was seen as a protector. The Golden Body had naturally enhanced strength and obviously it was already showing itself.
Lind could feel eyes boring into his back and sighed as he turned to find the maid looking at him directly. She was holding back, but her displeasure was clear to his senses.
"I suppose we have a meeting now?" His dark tone finally made her flinch as she recalled who she was staring at.
He waved a hand forward and she moved ahead of him until they entered a room not far from the kitchen hall. It was simply a room for staff but it was empty at the moment.
"Sit." Lind ordered her to sit and she did so neatly. "Feel free to unload now."
He had activated the wards and she noticed. She was a peak Star Tier, relatively powerful for her kingdom, so he knew she was not just a maid.
"Emperor Frey, your encouragement of Princess Shea's irreverent behavior is detrimental to her behavior. She needs a firm hand and to curb these childish whims rather than indulging them." He just barely refrained from marching from the room.
She was 10! She was royalty, true, but she was still 10! The fact she reached the 4th tier of the Soul Realm with so little help was testament to her hard work.
"Anything else?" He would rather have it all out at once than go back and forth.
She put a stray loch of dark hair behind her ear as the white lace cover hid the rest. Her ash gray eyes were like steel as she nodded.
"You're giving her false hope with this training of her professions when her cultivation potential is so low. Further, I am aware that weaving can restrict cultivation further. I would ask you to remove the current circle from her dantian and forbid her from learning any professions. They are a waste of her time." Lind's aura spiked dangerously but he quickly suppressed it.
The maid did not even blink. It showed she was used to powerful beings at least.
"What is your name?" The maid did not even blink as she responded.
"Unimportant. I am her Highnesses personal servant." Lind narrowed his eyes. That was an odd response. Even a stubborn servant should still acknowledge his authority.
A wave of Qi swept over the room of Celestial Qi. It was very little but it destroyed the wards and all formations in effect.
The maid's uniform did not change but her face did!
Her ash gray eyes remained but her face became damned familiar!
"I see, his majesty snuck you out as well?" He already knew who he was looking at and given the beast tide, it was a good choice. "I am happy to welcome you to the Sanctuary Empire, Queen Elara."
Her anger was clear but Lind now saw she was a peak Sun Tier. No wonder she had no fear regarding his reaction.
"You will–" Lind let his draconic aura flare that time and did not retract it as a complex weaving was put up in an eye-blink. For the first time, he saw her pull back as her cultivation was restricted to the World Realm without any chance to resist.
Why were none of her defenses working?
"My little trick was not an illusion breaking attack but total Qi destruction. Even my own life saving artifacts were affected." He neglected to mention they were simply drained and could be restored by him easily. "Now, let's start again."
He now stood up and she tried to stand but found she could not. Real anger flared in her face but he was having none of it.
"You are her mother and are welcome to stay here with her as you wish but in this place, she is my student. She lives by my rulings and evaluations. Yours no longer apply. That was the agreement." Lind had only accepted a royal member under that condition.
It had been accepted and archived long ago.
Queen Elara flared once more but she might as well have been a child fighting an avalanche for all the good it did.
"I can happily leave you here to receive meals and care until it is safe to go back. You may not have heard but I did send 3 sky ships to aid your husband and kingdom." Queen Elara did not seem to care about that.
Lind felt tired just looking at her as he could almost read her mind.
She knew her child better than anyone and she already had a planned out life. Nothing can interfere with it.
Lind then summoned a silver badge from his ring and placed it on the table. For the first time the Queen tried to move back.
"Protector Princess Giselle was the one that asked for Shea to come here and I agreed. If she had no profession potential, I would still teach her cultivation. You saw the results. She has too much impurity in her body. We can resolve that at least." Such an act alone would not be an issue and would at least make cultivating easier for Shea.
"She has her fate already decided. Nothing can change it!" Lind arched an eyebrow before the badge floated up and rotated in front of her. A mountain was on one side with a fan on the other.
It was the personal badge of authority from Princess Giselle.
"Care to say that to the person that sent her here?" Queen Elara glared at him but said no more.
"You will be moved to a suite of your own if you do not comply. I care little what that will say about your kingdom. I suspect other powers will accuse your husband of being weak to send his Queen away as he did." Blood finally drained from her face.
It was one thing to stand up to Lind, but the members of the Alliance were not all friends. It was only against the Fiends they technically united. Even then, they only went so far as to preserve their power from what Lind could tell.
There were powers against the Shanliang Peaks that would be happy to find any lever against them. While sending non-combatants away was fine and encouraged by some, Queen Elara was a peak Sun Tier.
Her power would have been essential to the fight. It meant either the King saved his wife over anyone else or she fled from the kingdom when it was in danger. It was a lose lose situation politically.
Either the local nobles would lose all respect for him or external enemies would smell blood in the water to try and entice people to their side.
"You–you can't do that." She no longer was overbearing and cold. Lind breathed a sigh of relief.
"I would not but you were not listening. I may not have been born a noble but I have seen both good and bad examples. I have also made it my goal to serve my people to enable them to find as many opportunities as they can. It is not perfect and will have loads of conflicts but I have spent the last 1600 years learning." He sat down and summoned a jade slip.
"I have simple rules for those coming to learn. All are equal, even your daughter. What happens once they reach the Gold Tier is their choice." Queen Elara looked at him confused.
"It has been my experience that if they can overcome their first tribulation, they have a firm idea of what they want to do. I have been a Sect Master for less time than I was an Emperor but it was much easier to my mind." She nodded slowly as she examined the slip and felt shocked.
[Princess Shea's current condition: Tempering Bath needed to remove impurities]
[Weaving ability: Extremely powerful and quick learner. Growth potential extreme as well.]
[Recommend actions: Elixirs of Saturation, Soul Cleansing, and Qi Gathering peak grade 2.]
[Tempering bath peak grade 2 as well.]
She looked up and saw the serious look in his emerald eyes.
"She will never be a prodigy but with these simple steps, she will likely become a 6th circle easily once she reaches the Heaven Realm. As to how her ability will increase, I roughly predict a 70 to 80% jump in her potential." Shock actually crossed her face.
"How?" Lind sighed as he knew there was a mountain to convey but he summed it up better by summoning all 6 of his natural elements. He then brought out his demonic Qi. It was not full streams but it was there. The faint golden lines were only visible to his senses but Elara saw the rest.
"A long time ago, I was told to give up, that I had no chance to go beyond the Sand Tier. I admit it was damned hard but I slowly persevered. I had luck, no doubt, but the work of seniors from long ago also laid the groundwork I built my theories off of." Lind transformed earth into metal and light into darklight.
He let all the elements interchange as emerald flames lined his body.
"I think cultivators have closed their mind to possibilities for far too long. You abandoned 6 elementals and have rigid ideas that demons and other races are entirely separate. We are all part of the Dao as the Dao is part of us." His words were like thunder to Queen Elara.
She was a powerful warrior in her own right but he broke her limited view.
"Where do we go from here?" Lind dropped a formation plate in front of her at her question.
"Use that for your disguise and we will go for simple. Princess Shea is in my care. How far she goes and how we decide to teach her is up to us. I am not preparing a member of the royal family but a cultivator. You can guide her on the rest but you will not hinder her path any longer as a cultivator." Lind's aura flared and she nodded at him.
"Good! Pleasure dealing with you!" Lind smiled as he dispersed the weaving. The tall maid was before him once more and they left to face their respective duties.